This message tonight is for everybody
that's interested in what God has revealed in His Word regarding
evil and how He deals with evil. There are a lot of curious questions
that people ask about this. I'm sure you've encountered it
at one time or another in your life. Why did God allow this
to happen? If there's a loving God, why
does this happen and that happen and that type of thing? I'm not
interested in answering the questions of the curious, but there are
those who honestly desire to understand who God is and how
He deals with sin. And so we will explore this tonight
in the Word of God. I want to read you three passages
of Scripture without you turning there. I just want you to listen
to them. Now, you'll be turning to plenty of Scripture tonight
because this is a subject that I, least of all, would lean upon
the flesh regarding. I never want to do that, but
especially in something like this. Let's see what God's Word
says about it. In Amos 3, 6, a question is asked
by the prophet. He says, Shall a trumpet be blown
in the city, and the people not be afraid? That's the trumpet
of alarm blown. And it says this, Shall there
be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Can anything
happen in God's universe without Him? Isaiah 45, 7, the Lord Himself
makes a divine declaration. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. If God did not create evil, then
where did it come from? You answer me that. I'm going
to speak in the past tense here because I don't know any other
way to talk. But when there was only God, there was no evil then. Where did it come from? Acts
4. You might find this an interesting
passage in connection with this, but not if you think about it. In Acts chapter 4 we have described
man's worst evil, if there can be such a thing. And I believe
there can. I believe there are degrees of punishment in hell.
And I know that sin is sin. But listen to this. If man can
be said to have created an evil beyond all other evil, this was
it. In Acts 4.26, it says, the kings
of the earth stood up. Those in authority, those who
had some say, They stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus..." You think about who they were against.
That holy thing. "...of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed..." His name means Savior. "...and
they rose up against Him now, whom thou hast anointed, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel." That pretty much covers it, doesn't it? "...were gathered
together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." They gathered together to kill the Son of God.
Why? Because they hated the Son of God. He said, you hated me
without a cause. And we did. We're guilty of that. We nailed the Son of God to a
cross, but when we did, we did exactly what God purposed that
we would do. You understand the subject that
we're thinking about tonight now, evil. The title of the message
is this, God and Evil. God and Evil. Now there can be
no question whatsoever that God is the first cause of all things. You've heard that statement before.
First things first, let's establish that right up front. The very
nature of God makes this unarguable. There was only God before he
created any creature or object. If God had not created angels
or men, there would be no sin. Sin is not an abstract principle
that exists somewhere out in the air that can infect from
without. People think about sin wrongly. Sin is an inward principle of
the heart and nature of a moral creature. And it has no existence
anywhere else but in the heart. You understand? A dog can't commit
sin because it's not a moral creature. It's not a responsible
creature to God. We are. We are. God's law is
binding upon us. But sin exists nowhere else.
It doesn't exist outside of the heart. the heart. God never created
any creature in a sinful state. Understand that. He didn't create
a sinner. He created a perfect man, holy
and upright before Him. And man became a sinner willingly. That's important. That's important. This thing of sin is directly
tied to what men call their free will. directly. Where was sin
first found? In Lucifer, an angel of God. Sin first was found there in
the heart of an angel. And what was his statement that
he made? I will be like the Most High God. I will. Sin is an act of the will. And
when he spoke to Adam, he said, you will be as gods. And that's what Adam was interested
in. Not just the taste of an apple
or an orange or whatever that was. It wasn't just he wanted
something different because he was tired of all the other stuff
in the garden. He wanted to be God, the will, you see. But God never created any creature
in a sinful state. Angels and men fell according
to their own will. God wasn't surprised by it. He
created us knowing full well that we would fall. But we fell
willingly. All of man's problems, you think
about this now, everything that's wrong in this world is a result
of sin. Everything. I had somebody confront
me one time back in my religious days before I knew who God was. We'd go door to door and try
to find out who wanted to go to heaven when they died. I pretty
much found out everybody wanted to go to heaven when they died.
They just didn't want to go to church. They didn't have any
interest in Christ. You see, they wanted to go to
heaven. But one of them asked me one time, if there is a God,
why did He take my little baby? Why did He kill my little baby?
Well, there are a lot of different answers to that. I know one thing
for sure. He did it for His glory. Everything
He does, He does for His glory. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will." He did it because he wanted to.
That would have been a pretty good answer right there. That
wouldn't have been the answer he was looking for. Why did he
take my little child? Perhaps it was mercy upon that
little child, not to be raised up in the home of a reprobate
that blames God for his problems. I'm just speculating on that,
but just maybe. I know this too, if not for my
sin. There wouldn't be any problems
in this world. None. It was sin. It was that man's
sin, and mine, and all of us. All of us are responsible. We're
guilty. It's our fault that this world
is sin-cursed and depraved. Everyone in it. It's our fault. And we're not to blame God for
our troubles. The wages of sin is death. That'd
be a pretty good answer to his question, don't you think? Why
did my baby die? The wages of sin is death." Well,
that wouldn't have been what he wanted to hear either. God
is not a spectator now in his universe. Man is responsible
before God, and man is a sinner because he wanted to be a sinner,
because he desired to be God, and God cursed him for it like
he said he would. God kept his promise, didn't
he? God created all things and purposed all things. And so evil
is according to God's sovereign will and purpose. Everything
that exists, every circumstance. In Job 9.24, Job put it this
way when his friends insisted that God doesn't deal in affliction
against his people and he afflicts only evil people. Job insisted
this in verse 24 of Job 9, the earth is given into the hand
of the wicked. They were saying, well, God curses
the wicked. He does stuff like he's doing to you, to wicked
people. And he blesses good people. Job said, no, no. Where have
you been? What planet are you from? The earth is given into
the hands of the wicked. And God covereth the faces of
the judges thereof. Those that make the decisions,
those that judge between right and wrong in this earth, God
covers their faces so that right is wrong to them and wrong is
right. They don't know what they're talking about. Have you witnessed
that? What planet are you from? And
then Job said this, he asked this question, if not, then where
is God and who is God? If somebody doing something in
his universe that he don't have any control over, if things aren't
the way he intended them, then what is he doing? Isn't that
what Elijah asked those false prophets? He said, maybe your
God's taking a nap. That's what he said, wasn't it?
Maybe he's asleep. Maybe he's going to run an errand and he'll
be back in a little while because he didn't answer with fire. As
they danced around and cooked themselves and did all the things
that they thought would invoke their God to answer them, Elijah
mocked them and said, maybe he's not up to it right now. He'll
get around to it. And then he called on the name
of his God and God answered by fire and consumed the sacrifice,
because that's what God does. He accepts a sacrifice, his sacrifice. If not, then where and who is
he? Consider this. God is able to uphold his creatures
in righteousness if he's pleased to do so. Ooh, that's speculation. No, it's not either. He preserved
those holy angels who did not fall A third part of the angels
of heaven fell. And you know what the rest of
them are called? The elect angels. Why didn't they fall with the
rest of them? Because God chose them. He chose them and upheld
them in righteousness and kept them from falling. The same one
that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory. He's able to uphold His creatures. He says to men, who maketh thee
to differ from one another? And so if there's a difference
between fallen angels and holy elect angels, I reckon God made
the difference, don't you? God made the difference. They're
called the elect angels in 1 Timothy 5, 21. They didn't fall because
God chose and upheld and preserved them in holiness while passing
by those who fell. If He so elected to do so, He
could keep all of us, every creature that He ever made, He could have
kept us from falling. He's able to do that, but He
did not. Let me ask you another question.
Is there any good in sin? It's clear that God allowed sin
into this world. God said, I create evil, and
He created men who became evil, and God knows the end from the
beginning. And so let me ask you this question, why? Are God's
purposes good? Is there any good in sin? Well, let me answer that in a
couple of ways. In general, generally speaking regarding sin, sin in
this world in general is overruled for good by God, unquestionably. Without sin in this world, there'd
be no redemption. there be no forgiveness, there
be no justification, there be no mercy. Let me ask you a question. Could there ever be a creature
like a redeemed sinner any other way than the way God has wrought
this? By redemption from a fall, by
redemption from sin, by the blood of a spotless sacrifice, by the
blood of God. Do you realize what God has wrought
when he redeems a sinner? And could there be such a creature
any other way? You understand, we're more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. We're not just like Adam
was. He didn't just restore to us
the same position we had in Adam. Adam was righteous before the
fall, but you and I are one with Christ. We have the righteousness
of Christ, no possibility of ever falling. Listen to this
description of our glorified... Turn here with me, Revelation
21. And look at this description of our glorified state in heaven,
in glory, with Christ. And you answer my question, is
there good in sin? Not in the act itself. We understand
that. Sin is not good. The very definition
of sin is that it's evil. But God in a general sense The
fact that sin is even in this world, God overrules it for good. He uses our evil to accomplish
His good. What was it Joseph said? You
meant it for evil. And they did. But God meant it
for good. And that's with all sin. With
all sin. Okay, Revelation 21, 27. And
there shall in no wise enter into it. That's this holy city. which is not a building, not
structures, not streets of gold. It's the people of God. The new
Jerusalem, the holy city, is God's people, God's elect. There
shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth. Something
entered into the Garden of Eden that defiled that place, those
inhabitants of that place and the place itself. The earth was
cursed for their sake. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie. But here's the only thing that
can enter into this holy city, they which are written in the
Lamb's book of life." Those who are wearing those white robes
that John saw and said, why are they arrayed? The angel asked
him, who are these that are arrayed in white? And John said, you
know, you know. And he said, yeah, these are
the redeemed that have washed their robes in the blood of the
Lamb. And that's the only ones that can enter into this place.
And listen to it. In the midst, let's see, look
at verse 1 of chapter 22. And this is the same context
now. They which are written in the
Lamb's book of life, no defilement, no abomination, no lie. And then
He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse." Adam never would have been infallible. Never would have been. There
would have always been. That contingency, that, what's the
word that we use? I'll think of it in a minute.
But in this place, no more curse, but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it. God established His throne in
Eden, didn't He? He said, thou shalt and thou
shalt not. You can do whatever you want
to do, but you'll do what I tell you to do. I'm God and you're
not. But this will be different because
His throne, the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Lamb that
was crucified, the Lamb that was slain. There was a throne
and in the midst of it, there was a Lamb as it had been slain. And His servants shall serve
Him. We're not going to be thinking
about how we can be like God. We're going to just serve Him.
We're just going to do what God says forever, forever. Whatever He bids, that's what
we'll do. forever. And they'll see His
face and His name everywhere they go. People won't be looking
at us, looking at our proud brow and our visage. They'll see the
name of God right here in our foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun. For the Lord God giveth them
light, and they shall reign with Him. If we suffer with Him, brethren,
Paul said, we shall also reign with Him forever and ever." I
like the way that... we say that, you know, in movies
and stuff, you hear it, and it just doesn't mean forever and
ever. I love the way that's said, forever, and that's not enough
to stop there, and ever. Whenever is over with, there's
another ever. However long that is. We're going
to reign with Him forever. There's not going to be anything
that defiles or maketh a lie creeping into that place. Why?
Because we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. He
didn't just make us personally holy again. He made us one with
Himself. He'll fall when we do in that
place. That's not going to happen. Now,
considering that, do you have a problem with the way God did
things regarding sin? allowing sin to enter into this
world the way that he did, and it being part of his purpose
from the beginning. When he made this earth, he had
already purposed to make a new one, wherein dwelleth righteousness. All right, now those who are
sinners, let's establish this regarding evil in God's world.
Those who are sinners and willfully and wickedly reject full, free
salvation in Christ ought to go to hell. Now God reveals that
clearly. That's not just my opinion. Paul said, If any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. That means
accursed when the Lord comes back. When the Lord comes back,
let him put him in hell where he belongs. And that's exactly
what he'll do. As our brother Bruce talked about,
the lamb will say, Bring my enemies right here before me and slay
them right before my face. That's exactly what he's going
to do. So sinners. Now, God allowed sin to enter
into this world, but sin was our willful desire. We said we'll be God and we'll
take God off His throne and we'll get up there ourselves and we'll
decide what's right and wrong. That's what Satan said, you'll
determine what's good and evil. And we like the sound of that.
So we sin against God and we fall. Mercy, grace, full and
free. The Lord Jesus Christ comes into
this sin-wrecked world and says, come unto me. Do you have a problem
with sin? Are you falling? Are you laboring
or heavy laden under the law? Are you bowed down? Are you unable to keep God's
law, unable to carry the weight of your responsibility before
God? Come to me and I'll give you rest. Just come. Just come,
just like you are. Come. Come. Come. Let him that is thirsty come
and take of the water of life freely. Now if you spit in his
face, you ought to go to hell. Now does that have a bearing
on our subject? That sin entered into this world? My sin. And
God, He didn't make atonement for the angels that fell. He
took not on Him the nature of angels. The angels, Lucifer said,
I will be as the most high, and everybody that said, all the
other angels that said that sounded like a pretty good idea to me,
they're in hell right now, and they always will be without remedy.
But for men, for sinful, wretched worms like us, he came down here
and became one of us now, humbled himself, took upon him the form
of a servant now, the king of glory, The one who said, I am
the Lord and beside me there's none else. He took upon Him the
form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. God hung naked between heaven
and earth on a wooden cross and His blood flowed down it on the
ground. And He did that to redeem a worm like me. Now you spit
in His face and what's going to happen to you? And everybody
who by His grace is in glory and sees Him as He is, we're
going to rejoice that He put you in hell. We're going to praise
Him for it because He did right. Man, because God is sovereign,
now think about this, because God is sovereign, and He is unquestionably,
but they attempt to blame God for their sinful condition. But
man is rebuked by God's Word for that. And all the explanation
from God we're going to get is given right here in Romans 9.
You want to find out why God allowed sin into this world?
Listen to Romans 9.18. Turn there if you would. I know
this passage is familiar, but look at it from the point of
view that we're approaching it tonight. God deliberately allowed
sin to enter into His world. He purposed it that it would
come to pass. Why? And then when He did, He
said this in verse 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Out of those who
fell, as he foresaw that they would, as he purposed that they
would, he said, I'm going to have mercy on some of them, and
on some of them I'm not going to have mercy. And you know what
man says to that? Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? Then how can God blame me for
my sin if he made me and allowed me to fall, purposed that I would
fall, and then says, I'm not going to save you. I choose not
to save you. Why doth he yet find fault? For
who hath resisted his will? In other words, everything happens
according to his will, so how can I be blamed? Nay, but, O
man, who are you? You see that? Who art thou that
replies against God? First of all, let's establish
this. You've got no business questioning
God. Nebuchadnezzar said, none can stay his hand or say unto
him, what are you doing? That's what you're doing right
there. You're saying, wait a minute, God, you can't do that. Who in
the world are you? You're a grasshopper in the sight
of God. You're going to question the
mighty God? Okay, that being established,
He says this, hath not the potter power over the clay, authority? Doesn't he have the right, it's
his clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? And now here, if you want an
explanation why God would purpose evil and allow it into his universe,
what if God, in other words, what are you going to do about
it if God, willing to show his wrath Willing to display his
justice Upon sinners his just right to judge them and to make
his power known Endured with much long-suffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction Endured with much long-suffering
boy that now that's deep territory right there, but let me just
say this God put up with sinners in his world Oh, the psalmist
said, How long, Lord, how long will you wait before you throw
these wretches in hell? How long will you tarry? How
long will you allow men to tell lies about you and to curse your
name and your earth? He endured with much longsuffering
those vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Why? Because
he will make his power known and he will display his wrath
and justice. and that He might make known
the riches of His glory." How is He going to do that? On the
vessels of mercy. There's not but one way there
can be a vessel of mercy, and that's if there's a sinner. Do
you understand that? And God's chief glory, the riches
of His glory. How can I describe that? The
riches of God's glory are displayed in him having mercy on a sinful
wretch like you." Do you see why God, that's all the explanation
you're going to get now as to why God allowed evil to come
into this world. Because His chief, He would make
known His wrath upon those who will go to hell deservingly and
He'll make known the riches of His glory on those vessels of
mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory. He wasn't waiting
to see if they were going to make a decision. He had already
established and predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of His Son so that every creature throughout all eternity would
say, look at the mercy of God in Christ. He shed His blood
and redeemed us, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. And then Paul brought it down
home, didn't he? Even us. Can you get in on that? God did everything that he did
from the beginning of time because he wanted to have mercy on me,
even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews, that's not the
people of God, but also of the Gentiles. It's everybody that
he chose out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under
heaven. Oh, do you see that? Now, if that doesn't satisfy
your curiosity, and I say that realizing that most who are here
tonight have bowed to the sovereign will of God. to set Job and all three of his
friends straight on some things. Before God Himself came, He sent
a messenger before Him, and his name was Elihu. And he said,
Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches and hearken
to all my words. Behold, now I have opened my
mouth, and my tongue hath spoken in my mouth. My words shall be
of the uprightness of my heart, and my lips shall utter knowledge
clearly." These are some things I know because God told me. The
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life. If thou canst answer me, Job,
set thy words in order before me. Stand up. Behold, I am according
to thy wish in God's stead." Ah, Job said, who will be my
daysman between me and God? Elihu said, here we go. I'm going
to tell you what God said now. I also am formed out of the clay.
I'm nothing, but God sent me. God sent me. Behold, my terror
shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the
voice of thy word, saying, I am clean without transgression,
I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me." Now Job didn't
say he was innocent and clean judicially before God, but he
did say, I've committed no wrong to deserve what happened to me.
And that's what Elihu's calling him on. Behold, he findeth occasions
against me. He's still saying what Job had
said. He counteth me for his enemy. Job did say that. He putteth
my feet in the stocks. He marketh all my paths. Job did say those things, didn't
he? Every one of them. And Elihu says to Job, Behold
in this thou art not just. I will answer thee first of all.
He gave him two answers now to Job's confusion and questions. God is greater than man. He's
not a man that you can ask Him why He did something. And secondly,
why do you strive against Him? For He giveth not account of
any of His matters. God is not accountable to you.
Well, I don't understand why God would allow... You don't
have to understand. But you do have to bow. And I
do too. I'm going down. I'm going down. I've seen enough. God has given
me just a little glimpse of Himself and His King that He set on His
holy hill. And I'm going down. I've got
nowhere else to go. But down at His feet, and whatever
seems good to Him is all right with me. It's all right with
me. Now that's grace. That's His grace. But I'm honest
about that. He giveth not account of any
of His matters. Now listen to another Scripture.
I've made, I hope, some things clear here that God was deliberate
in purposing and prescribing and bringing to pass that evil
enter into his world. And evil has no existence outside
of the heart. It's a product of the heart,
the nature of man and angels. And God brought that to pass,
and He gives some reasons for it. He's going to show His wrath
on sinners, and He's going to show His mercy on sinners. on sinners. There's no difference
in those sinners and the other sinners, except that he singled
them out and said, I'll have mercy on those because I want
to. Now, James 1.13, let no man say
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted
with evil. Satan tried, didn't he? We might
think, well, that's That's out of the question. Why would anybody
even try? Satan did. And he's smarter than you. And he said, he told the Lord
Jesus Christ, turn these stones into bread. And the Lord answered
him every time one way, didn't He? It is written. It is written. It is written. It is written.
It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Oh,
there's our Savior. There's our representative right
there. That's why I'm holy, because
he couldn't be tempted. And he's my righteousness, you
see. Oh, neither tempteth he any man. God can't be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted. In other words, don't blame God.
Don't let any man say this, James said. Why would James insist
on this? Because that's what we say. We blame it on God, and
if we can't get away with that, we blame it on the devil. The
devil made me do it. No. Here's what made you do it. Every man is tempted when he
is drawn away of his own lust. Your heart made you do it, and
your heart is you. So if you want to blame somebody,
look in the mirror, and you're enticed when your own heart draws
you away. Then when lust hath conceived,
it brings forth open sin, outward sin. And sin, when it is finished,
brings forth death. Death, in every sense of the
word. We're dying by bits and pieces
right now, and it's sin. It's me. I look in the mirror
and say, God cursed me, and he did the right thing when he did
it. It's my fault. Don't you blame God for your
evil. He can't be tempted with evil, and he doesn't tempt anybody
with evil. Well, wait a minute. What does
that mean? The word tempt here can mean to try to prove. And we know that the Lord does
try faith where He gives it. He always does. The trial of
your faith, Paul said, is precious. And we know that He tried Abraham
when He told him to sacrifice that only son whom thou lovest,
Isaac. But God didn't make him do it
in the end. There was a substitute provided. God will provide Himself a lamb.
And He did. He did. But God tried. He tested. He proved that Abraham's
faith was true, God-given faith. And he always does that. Where
he gives faith, he'll try it. And that word can mean that.
But this word, trial, here, tempted. He tempted. I am tempted of God.
Don't say I'm tempted of God. It can also mean, in a bad sense,
to test one maliciously, craftily, just to see if he can stir up
some trouble. I know some people that are that way, don't you?
Just about all of us have some of that in us, don't we? We just
want to see if we can stir up something, you know. God never
does that. He doesn't play games with His
creatures. He's not dishonest and crafty. Don't you blame God
for your wickedness. You look in the mirror and just
thank God that He hasn't given you yet what you deserve. That's
our business right there. He doesn't play games. Listen
to this, Matthew 26, 24. The Son of Man goeth as it is
written of Him. Lord Jesus is going to go to
the cross. He's going to die. He's going to be nailed to the
cross. He's going to be taken by wicked hands and slain, crucified. And it was written that He shall
and He must. It's written. God said, I've
written it. I've purposed it. Shall I not do it? But woe unto
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. woe unto that man. It had been good for that man
if he had not been born." God purposed it. It's going to happen. It's unalterable. But the ones
by whose hands it is committed will be judged for their sin. God is not complicit in their
sin. He's right to judge them. And
His purposes shall come to pass. Explain that. I don't have to. I don't need to. I don't care
to. I couldn't if I wanted to. It's the truth. It's the truth. Now just as surely as sin has
everything to do with man's will, salvation from sin has nothing
to do with man's will. You want to talk about free will?
Listen to some Scripture. These are verses that you're
familiar with. But listen to the Word of God now. And you
tell me. You tell me what about man's
free will. John 644, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not just doctrine. This
is not just something that we agree with. The Lord Jesus Christ
looked at a group of people and said, no man can come to me. He just got through saying, come
to me, come to me. Everywhere he went, he said,
come, come. And then he said, no man can
come. Does that make sense to you? If you know God, it does. If you know how God deals with
sin and how He has mercy on the sinner, it makes perfect sense.
Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus is dead. Does that make
sense? It does if you know who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. A dead man can't come out of
the grave, can he? No man can come unto me, except
the Father which hath sent me Draw him. That's a physical drawing. That's Peter drew his sword.
Unless God gets a hold of you and brings you somewhere, you
can't come on your own. The sword not coming out of the
scabbard unless Peter draws it. And you're not coming to Christ
unless God draws you to Him. And I'll raise Him up when He
does. When the Father draws you to Me, I'll raise you up at the
last day incorruptible. You'll be just like me. You'll
be one with me. I'll raise him up at the last
day. Romans 9, 15, God said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom
I will, and I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, Paul concludes from that, it is not of him that willeth. If God said I'm going to have
mercy on that one and not on that one, what has their free
will got to do with it? Paul said it don't have anything
to do with it. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that
runneth. You can run around down aisles
and up hills and mountains and run down to the preacher and
do the five steps of the Roman road or whatever you want to
do. God said I'm going to have mercy on that one and I'm not
going to have mercy on that one. And your running didn't have
nothing to do with it. It's of God that shows mercy. What is? Mercy. Mercies of God. Your will
doesn't have nothing to do with it. Your ability has nothing
to do with it. John 1.12, But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power. He gave them power. To do what?
To become the sons of God. How are you going to become a
son of God otherwise? Can you just decide you want
to be a son of God? He gave you the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born, not of blood." It wasn't that they were born of
a certain family, or a certain race, or a certain heritage. Not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh. Not because the preacher wanted
them to be saved and got them saved, or Mama wanted her child
to be saved. Nor of the will of man. Not because
he wanted to be saved, or she. But they were born of God. You
must be born from above, he said to John. You've got to be born
from above. Now this is why we warn and oppose
and are adamant regarding what religion calls the free will
of man and the heresy that deduces that who is saved is determined
by man's free will. We oppose that. And this is why. Man's will is sin and only sin
and it never has been anything but sin. God saw, Genesis 6,
5, that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, where do we say
sin comes from? Was only evil continually. You see that? Every, only, continually. Oh, well, that was back when,
you know, we're better now. Is that right? You think so?
Alright. What about this? Psalm 53, 2.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Now this is
speaking in human language. God didn't have to look down
to see that. But He looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. Did everybody get in on that? To see if there were any that
did understand, who God is, what they are before God, how God
saves sinners, or that did seek God. Anybody exercising their
free will to make a decision for Jesus? Every one of them
has gone back. Every one. And that word means
like if you reached to touch somebody with affection, reached
to touch their face, they pull back away from you. God reaches
down and says, I'll have mercy on sinners. Sent his son and
said, come and live. Look and live. God reaches down
his hand and comes into this world in mercy and love and grace.
He said, for which of these good works do you stone me? He reaches
out his hand and the sinner says, I don't want nothing to do with
you. And you're going to blame him when you go to hell? They're
all, every one of them has gone back. They're all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not. That's what God sees when he
waits on the free will of man to do something. Evil is a product
of man's will and man's will is only capable of producing
evil. There's nothing else that it
can produce. And God uses the evil of men and devils to accomplish
his glorious good designs. I got a lot more scripture we
don't have time to look at tonight. But let me give you some of it
and we'll be through. Satan is God's servant just as much as
his people are, or his angels are, that haven't fallen. Satan
is God's servant. In 1 Samuel 16, 14 it says, But
the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit
from the Lord troubled him. God sends the evil spirits where
he wants to, to do his bidding. Satan had to get permission from
God. to tempt Job, to afflict Job. And God said, you have permission
to go this far and no further. Satan serves the purposes of
God. Saul's servant said unto him, Behold, now an evil spirit
from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy
servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning
player on an harp. And it shall come to pass when
the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he'll play with his
hand and you'll be well. And Saul said to his servants, go
find that man. You know who he was? David. God
sent an evil spirit to Saul to vex him, to trouble his heart.
Why? Because he would have David established
in the king's house because he had already purposed to put David
on the throne. Devils, men, angels, all the
servants of God, all of them. God controls all providential
circumstances and what men call contingencies. Here's a little
verse I've quoted you a few times recently. The lot is cast into
the lap, the dice are cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Do you realize what that means?
Everything that men call luck and chance is the will of God
being done. God controls the thoughts and
intents and actions of me i can go on and on now i got a million
of them by the grace of god he's revealed much concerning his
great sovereign control of this world and all of the good and
evil in it the good is from him the evils from us and it's all
in his disposal every bit of it proverbs twenty one one the
king's heart is in the hand of the lord as the rivers of water
he turns it whether so ever he will He'll cause the king to
decide this or decide that, to choose this or choose that. Proverbs
16, 9, a man's heart deviseth his way. I decide what I'm going
to do tomorrow, but the Lord will direct my steps. What I
end up doing will be by God's will. 2 Samuel 17, 14, Absalom
and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite
is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. Never happened before. Ahitaphel's counsel had always
been followed. Always. And the fact that it
wasn't in this case upset Ahitaphel so much he went and killed himself.
Why was it not followed this time? For the Lord had appointed
to defeat the good counsel of Ahitaphel to the intent that
the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Do you understand what
just happened there? God had purposed to defeat the
counsel of Ahitaphel because he would bring Absalom down.
And because God had purposed that, when these men were considering
whose advice is better, they said, I believe old Hushai has
got it right this time. And God was behind it. The decisions,
the intents of the heart, the direction that the heart is turned,
why we're inclined one way and not another, it's of the Lord. Proverbs 16, 7, when a man's
ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace
with him. How in the world is He going to do that? What if
my enemies don't want to be at peace with me? It don't matter
because God's on the throne. They will treat you, His people,
in whatever way is in your eternal best interest. And they'll have
no idea why they're doing it. Exodus 34, 23, Thrice in the
year shall all your men, children, appear before the Lord, the God
of Israel. That's God saying, all the men
got to go to these feasts, got to be there on the feast day.
For I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders.
Neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up
to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. While
you're going up to observe the feasts of the Lord, nobody's
going to take over your property and steal your goods and kill
your wife and children. You know why? Because God said,
I'll make sure they don't want to. Is that your God now? He's God indeed, isn't He? A
just God and a Savior. He can save who He wants to,
can't He? That God can. He does whatever He pleases.
That's how David described Him. I have witnessed in my life that
God overrules all evil against His people for good. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good, Joseph said. That which
has been done to me in my life that was most greatly intended
for my evil has resulted in the greatest good in my life. I've
lived it. Have you? God said to his people,
no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. All that
you need, God will have to give it to you freely because he's
sovereign and he does according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And without him,
you can do nothing. You can't believe on Him. You
can't repent. You can't do anything that you
need and must do before God. Faith is His gift, Ephesians
2, 8 and 9. Repentance is granted or withheld
by Him, 2 Timothy 2, 25. Well, I thought repentance and
faith were inward acts of the human heart. They are. But your
heart is evil and incapable of producing those things without
God doing a work in your heart. Faith is His gift. Repentance
is granted by God. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy
2.25, "...in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves."
If God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, instruct them, teach them, because just maybe
God might give them repentance. If He's going to give it to them,
that's how He'll do it. By you instructing them with
His Word. And if He gives it to them, they'll
acknowledge the truth. That's what it says. So God rules
all circumstances and events. He rules all hearts of the lost
and the saved. And He does all of this toward
one end. Toward one end. Turn to Ephesians
1. I promise I'll be done. I know
I've gone long, but this is a subject we won't address very often.
specifically, and I want us to get it. Ephesians 1, verse 3. I'll begin reading it because
it's familiar to you. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself."
Verse 5 there, now let me stop for just a second. Think about
what all is involved in God predestinating us to a specific end. Everything
that has happened since the day we were born, things that we
consider insignificant events in our lives, every one of them
have worked toward that predestination that God has set in eternity
for us. who you were born to, where you
were born, the fact that you heard a preacher somewhere one
day. I could go on and on. Everything, great and small in
your life, God predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself. And He did it according to the
good pleasure of His will. He did it because it made Him
happy. Two, here's what everything is moving toward. To the praise
of the glory of His grace. He has a universe and He has
everything happen in it that happens in it. To the praise
of the glory of His grace. You see that? And there can't
be grace without sin. wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." Why? that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things now, all things." Why did this happen or that happen?
It was according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will." Don't miss this. That. We should be to the praise of
His glory. Everything. Read the paper. Why
that? Why this? Why did that happen? That we
should be to the praise of His glory. He works everything after
the counsel of His own will. That. Is that alright with you?
Have you bowed? to His sovereign will. And the
things that we don't understand, why did evil come? I don't understand
all I know about that. But I know this, it's to the
praise of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's alright
with me by His grace.